The Big Event

The Big Event
The cover of the Coliseum Video release featuring Hulk Hogan
Tagline(s)	The Biggest Event of All Time
Information
Promotion	World Wrestling Federation
Date	August 28, 1986
Attendance	64,000+
Venue	Exhibition Stadium
City	Toronto, Ontario

The Big Event was a professional wrestling event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) on August 28, 1986, at the Exhibition Stadium in Toronto, Ontario. It drew a crowd of over 64,000 fans, which was an outdoor attendance record at the time. This stood as an attendance record for a wrestling show until WrestleMania III drew a reported 93,173 fans just seven months later to the Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan. A VHS tape of the event was released later by Coliseum Home Video, with commentary by Gorilla Monsoon, Johnny Valiant, and Ernie Ladd. In 2014, WWE Network made the event available on demand in the pay-per-view section (although the event was not originally broadcast via pay-per-view).

The main event heading into the event was between WWF World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan and Paul Orndorff for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship. Hogan and Orndorff's friendship became emphasized on the WWF's syndicated television programs throughout the summer, and eventually Adrian Adonis – host of the talk show segment The Flower Shop – began stirring up trouble between the two when he planted a suggestion that Orndorff was living in Hogan's shadow, calling him "Hulk Jr." and that he had gone soft by teaming with Hogan. With a series of seemingly minor incidents involving Hogan irritating Orndorff, the two eventually accepted a challenge match with Big John Studd and King Kong Bundy (who were managed by Orndorff's former manager Bobby "The Brain" Heenan), where Orndorff allowed Studd and Bundy to illegally double-team Hogan for an extended period of time before finally clearing them from the ring; Orndorff then helped Hogan to his feet, only to finish off Hogan with a clothesline and his finishing move, a piledriver. Shortly afterward, Orndorff announced he had re-hired former manager Bobby Heenan and demanded a title shot against Hogan.